Side-loading truck with an eccentrically mounted load handling mechanism



June 22, 1965 J. M. J. LOE F 3,

SIDE-LOADING TRUCK WITH A ECCENTRIGALLY V OUNTED LQAD HANDLING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 15, 1963 June 22, 1965 J. M J. LOEF 3,190,473

SIDE-'LQADING TRUCK WITH AN ECCENTRICALLY QUNTED LOAD HANDLING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 15, 1963 United States Patent Ofifice 3,19%,4'73 Patented June 22, 1965 3,196,473 SIDE-LOADING TRUCK WITH AN ECKIENTRE- ALLY MUUNTED LQAD HANDLHJG MEKIH. ANEM Jalrob M. J. Loef, Mooshurg, Upper Bavaria, Germany, assignor to Steinbeck G.m.b.H., Mooshurg, Upper Bavaria, Germany Filed May 15, 1963, Ser. No. 280,529 10 Claims. (Cl. 214-75) This invention relates to improvements in side-loading lift trucks and the uses thereof.

Side-loading trucks are known, wherein a vehicle frame comprises, between a front and a rear load bearing surface, a well in which a load carrier is displaceable transversely of the longitudinal direction of the vehicle frame, either together with an elevator element or with respect to a fixed elevator element. Loads which are picked up by such apparatus are placed across both of the abovenoted load bearing surfaces, so that the apparatus can be used economically only for long and heavy loads.

It is an object of the present invention to make sideloading trucks economically utilizable in connection with stacked plates and conventional smaller sizes of loads.

The invention achieves this objective by providing a vehicle wherein an eccentric arrangement of an elevator unit on a rotary assembly which has a vertical axis, to gcther with a load-carrier advance mechanism provides for the overlapping of load bearing surfaces spaced along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and for the forming of stacks thereon.

Load carriers which are displaceable in relation to associated elevator mechanisms or together with same and which are, in addition, rotatable about a vertical axis with respect to which the elevator mechanism is arranged eccentrically are known for use in multilaterally receiving fork-lift trucks, but have so far not been used in a sideloading trucks of the kind with which the invention is concerned.

Side-lift trucks used for depositing loads on load hearing surfaces do employ advanceable load carriers and rotatable lifting poles, but they do not use eccentric arrangements with respect to their rotary units.

The construction proposed by the invention is the first to make it possible to utilize the large loading surface and carrying capacity of a side loading truck for the simultaneous transportation of a plurality of stacked plates. This results in considerable savings in traveling back and forth compared with the use of side-lift trucks capable of picking up only one unit of stacked plates. Further, for purposes of re-st-acking, the existance of several separately useable load bearing surfaces on a side-loading truck facilitates operations substantially.

Two embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a side-loading truck provided in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the truck of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are views corresponding to FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrating a different position of the lifting carriage; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are respectively side and top views of another embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 16 show lift trucks which constitute side-loading trucks and which consist of a chassis ll, back wheels 3, front wheels 4, and top and bottom load bearing surfaces 19, 21 and 2d, 22. The lift truck can be steered by an operator with the aid of a shaft 16.

Mounted in the well of the chassis or frame 1 is a rotary unit 6 on which the elevator mechanism is eccentrically fixed. Guided on vertical tower or mechanism 10 is a load carrier or fork 8 which can be raised and lowered in a manner known per se by means of a lifting cylinder 13 and which, in addition, can be extended outwardly by means of scissors 9. The scissors 9 are operated by means of a hydraulic cylinder 11.

On one side, the arms of the scissors are guided in the elevator mechanism 10 by means of rollers 15 and 18; on the other side, they are articulately connected to the supporting frame 12 of the load carrier 8 or are guided therein by means of rollers.

The load carrier 8 is capable of projecting laterally beyond the contour of the vehicle and of picking up loads. In addition, the rotatability of the mechanism 10 with the load carrier thereon permits, after a load has been picked up and moved back and the mechanism 10 has been turned through an angle of depositing the load on one of the load bearing surfaces 19, 21, 24 or 22.

If a load pick-up on both sides or a load pick-up at low level is not required, a cross strut 23 (according to FIG. 5) may be arranged for connecting the frames forming the loading surfaces 19, 21 and 2d, 22. Said strut 23 may also be in the form of a fully closed rear wall.

According to FIGS. 5 and 6, the rotary unit 6 arranged in the region of the well of the chas-iss or frame l is perforated; i.e., it is developed as rotary rim 24. Fixed inside said rotary rim is the elevator mechanism 10 which extends through said rotary rim in order to be able to lower the load carrier 8 to the ground.

Upon rotation, the outer contours of the elevator mechanism 10 and of the ends of the load carrier 8 form a radius which determines the width of the vehicle and of the Well of the frame.

In general, the loading of a load-carrying vehicle of the invention takes place as follows:

The side-loading truck is driven alongside a vehicle to be loaded. The load bearing surfaces 19 to Hot the side-loading truck are loaded with stacked plates or containers 17, 25, 26, 2.7 which are to be loaded on the loadcarrying vehicle. The load carrier 8 grips the stacked plate 25 (FIGS. 3, 4), pulls it back with the load to the limit established by the elevator mechanism 10, and is pivoted through 90 into the position of FIG. 2. The load carrier is then moved out again into the position indicated by the broken lines in FIG. 2 and is lowered slightly to deposit the load on the load-carrying vehicle.

If a double stacking is to be effected on said vehicle, the side-loading truck remains alongside said vehicle, retracts the load carrier 8, pivots it through 90 to the other side, and grips the stacked plate 17 (FIG. 1), whereupon it deposits the latter on the plate 25 in a manner similar to the one described above.

If there is to be no double stacking, the fork-lift truck advances by the width of one stacked plate and then loads the plates 26 and 2'7 onto the vehicle. When the side-loading truck is empty, it returns to the storehouse Where its load bearing surfaces are loaded again.

The present side-loading truck can be used to special advantage for the loading and unloading of load carrying vehicles in cooperation with electric tractor and trailer vehicles. In this case, the side-loading truck moves alongside the load or freight-carrying vehicle, and the tractor with its trailer, in turn, moves alongside the former, so that the side-loading truck is now between the two vehicles. By merely pivoting the load carrier through the side-loading truck is then able to remove the stacking plates from the electric freight truck trailer and to deposit them on the freight carrying vehicle.

In a storehouse it is often necessary to remove the empty bottom stacking plates from the stacked goods and to move the full stacking plates stored at the top to the bottom. The top stacking plates are to be replaced with new, full ones. In this case, the side-loading truck, loaded only with stacking plates 26 and 27 moves in front of the row of stacks in which the stacking plates 26 and 27 are to be stored. There are two different main cases:

(a) Each stacking plate stands in a shelf on a base of its own.

The load carrier grips the stacking plate in the bottommost shelf and deposits it, as described earlier, as a stacking plate 17 on the load bearing surface 20. The load carrier then grips the stacking plate from the second shelf and deposits it as stacking plate 25 on the load bearing surface 22. The load carrier then moves upward, grips the topmost stacking plate and puts same in the lowermost shelf. It then puts the second stacking plate from the top on top of it. The load carrier is then retracted and pivoted, in order to grip the stacking plates 26 and 27. These are put in the top most shelf and second shelf from the top. Thereafter, the empty stacking plates 17 and 25 may remain where they are or they may be deposited on the load bearing surfaces 19 and 21. The side-loading truck may also move on and take along another pallet. During the previous operations, the fork lift has not changed its location, but has carried out said operations merely by the moving in and out, pivoting, raising and lowering of the load carrier.

(b) The stacking plates with loads thereon are stacked directly on top of each other. In this instance, the side-loading truck will advisably take along only one full stacking plate 25. Of the adjacent stack of four stacking plates, it removes the two topmost, full stacking plates and deposits them, as stacking plates 26, 27, on the empty load bearing surfaces 19 and 21. Thereupon, the forklift grips the two empty stacking plates in a single operation and deposits them on the bearing surface 20. Thereafter, the side-loading truck removes the full stacking plates 26 and 27 again from their bearing surfaces 19, 21 and deposits them on the bottommost place of the stack which has been emptied. Lastly, the stacking plate 25 is placed on top.

The stacker may also operate in such a manner that it takes along two loaded stacking plates 25 and 17. The stacking plate 17 must then be stacked temporarily on the stacking plate 25. This makes it possible for the sideloading truck to deal with freely stacked stacking plates or containers in a previously unknown, rational manner.

What is claimed is:

1. A side-loading truck comprising a chassis provided with a laterally open well and including on opposite sides of said well, individual first and second superposed load bearing elements, rotatable means in said well and having a vertical axis of rotation, an elevator mechanism extending upward from said rotatable means and mounted eccentrically thereon with respect to said axis for rotation with the rotatable means, extendible load carrying means vertically displaceable on said elevator mechanism, and means to extend said load carrying means laterally outwards from said well and over said load bearing elements depending on the positioning of said elevator mechanism by said rotatable means whereby the load carrying means may deposit and remove individual loads from each of the load bearing elements.

2. A truck as claimed in claim 1 comprising front and rear wheels supporting said chassis and steering means connected to the front wheels and extending outwardly in front of said chassis.

3. A truck as claimed in claim 1 comprising a structural member laterally bounding said well and connected between said load bearing elements.

4. A truck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means to extend the load carrying means comprises scissors connecting said load carrying means to said elevator mechanism, said scissors being supported on the elevator mechanism to undergo rotational movement therewith.

5. A truck as claimed in claim 4 wherein the means to extend the load carrying means further comprises a hydraulic cylinder means coupled to and operating said scissors.

6. A truck as claimed in claim 1 wherein said chassis includes a solid bottom in said well and supporting said rotatable means.

7. A truck as claimed in claim 1 wherein said chassis includes a perforated bottom in said well through which the load carrying means can be lowered.

8. A truck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the load carrying means is a fork.

9. A truck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the load carrying means extends diametrically acros the rotatable means from the elevator mechanism.

10. A truck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the elevator mechanism is a vertical tower.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,709,017 5/55 Ulinski 214-730 2,989,202 6/61 De Canniere et al 214730 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,026,688 3/55 Germany.

732,638 6/55 Great Britain. 1,063,968 8/59 Germany. 1,242,571 8/60 France. 1,131,146 6/62 Germany.

903,267 8/62 Great Britain.

HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SIDE-LOADING TRUCK COMPRISING A CHASSIS PROVIDED WITH A LATERALLY OPEN WELL AND INCLUDING ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID WELL, INDIVIDUAL FIRST AND SECOND SUPERPOSED LOAD BEARING ELEMENTS, ROTATABLE MEANS IN SAID WELL AND HAVING A VERTICAL AXIS OF ROTATION, AN ELEVATOR MECHANISM EXTENDING UPWARD FROM SAID ROTATABLE MEANS AND MOUNTED ECCENTRICALLY THEREON WITH RESPECT TO SAID AXIS FOR ROTATION WITH THE ROTATABLE MEANS, EXTENDIBLE LOAD CARRYING MEANS VERTICALLY DISPLACEABLE ON SAID ELEVATOR MECHANISM, AND 